The Genius Bella Vision BV-180 Pico Portable DLP Projector ($249.99) is both forward-looking and antiquated at the same time. This pico projector's modest brightness and low resolution are more typical of a previous generation of micro projectors, but its focus on letting users project video from smartphones and tablets gives it some cachet with the YouTube crowd.

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The all-black BV-180 measures 0.6 by 5.2 by 2.8 (HWD), small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and weighs just 0.36 pounds. On the projector's side, behind the lens, is a tiny focus wheel, which I found awkward to fine-tune. The projector contains an 1,800mAh Lithium polymer rechargeable battery, which according to Genius can project for up to 100 minutes between charges.

The BV-180 is a DLP-based projector with an LED light source. It is rated at up to 35 lumens, which is modest even by today's pico-projector standards. On the bright side, so to speak, the image lost little or no brightness when I unplugged it from the adapter.

The projector has native VGA (640-by-480) resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio, in an age when most pico projectors have gone to a widescreen resolution such as 854-by-480. The BV-180 can show video either in the VGA aspect ratio (4:3), which cuts off part of the sides of the image, or in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio in so-called letterbox format, which shows the video at its full width but with unused screen area above and below. (A toggle on the side of the projector lets you switch between aspect ratios.) Thus, the effective resolution for widescreen video is only 640 by 360. Traditional data presentations fare better, as they can make use of the full screen area, although many presenters are switching to widescreen format for their PowerPoint, Excel, and other data presentations.

There's a micro HDMI port for connecting to computers and mobile devices, a micro-USB port for charging, and a short cable, physically connected to the projector, with a micro-USB male plug for connecting to the Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) port of a compatible smartphone or tablet. The BV-180 can also charge most MHL devices from its rechargeable battery using the same cable. The projector lacks internal memory or the ability to project from a memory card or USB thumb drive.

Image Testing Based on The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendation for image brightness, a 35-lumen image in theater dark lighting should allow comfortable viewing at screen sizes ranging from 21 to 29 inches diagonal, and 14 inches diagonal in moderate ambient light. That fit in well with my testing experience; in darkness, the projector threw an image about 26 inches diagonal from 3 feet away from the screen.

I ran our data image quality tests with this projector over an HDMI connection. Data image quality was mediocre for a low-brightness projector. Text wasn't very sharp; white text on black was blurred at 9 points and smaller, while black text on white was readable, though not sharp at 9 points. I also noticed pixel jitter in images that tend to bring it out.

Video and Audio Video quality over an HDMI connection proved suitable for YouTube videos, or shorter clips as part of a presentation, but I wouldn't want to watch it for any length of time. There was frequent loss of detail in dark areas, and some scenes showed posterization, sudden shifts in color where they should be gradual. Colors were a bit off, with some scenes looking a little too green.

All single-chip DLP projectors are potentially subject to the rainbow effect, in which red-green-blue flashes appear, often in bright areas against a dark background. I saw rainbow artifacts in the BV-180's video more often than is usual for an LED-based DLP projector, and it's likely that people sensitive to the effect will be distracted by them.

As is true of most pico projectors, the BV-180's audio is soft, and the sound quality isn't very good. Genius doesn't provide a power figure for the speaker, but it probably isn't much more than a watt. You can access a volume control by pressing the charging button for about a second, but even at highest volume the audio is weak. The projector lacks an audio-out port, and the user guide suggests that, if possible, you use the audio from the device you're projecting from.

The closest thing that we've tested to the BV-180 is the AAXA P2 Jr., a 25-lumen pico projector with (presumed) VGA resolution that can project from MHL-supported mobile devices over an HDMI connection. However, the P2 Jr. also adds the ability to project from SD cards and USB thumb drives, as well as VGA and composite video sources, making it a more versatile projector. Our Editors' Choice model, the AAXA P4-X Pico Projector, also supports projecting from SD cards and USB keys, and offers good image quality for both data and video. That said, the Genius Bella Vision BV-180 Pico Portable DLP Projectoris lighter than the P4-X, and is a reasonable choice for light-duty use in projecting both data and video, provided you're not too picky about image quality.

As Analyst for printers, scanners, and projectors, Tony Hoffman tests and reviews these products and provides news coverage for these categories. Tony has worked at PC Magazine since 2004, first as a Staff Editor, then as Reviews Editor, and more recently as Managing Editor for the printers, scanners, and projectors team.
In addition to editing, Tony has written articles on digital photography and reviews of digital cameras, PCs, and iPhone apps
Prior to joining the PCMag team, Tony worked for 17 years in magazine and journal...
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